The delegation includes His Eminence
Archbishop Avak Asadourian, Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Iraq, His
Eminence Archbishop Yeznik Petrosian, General Secretary for Interchurch
Relations of the Armenian Church, His Grace Bishop Ashot Mnatsakanian,
Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Egypt, His Grace Bishop Ararat Kaltakjian,
Grand Sacristan of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Rev. Fr. Hovnan
Hakobian, Staff-Bearer of His Holiness, Mr. Berge Setrakian, President of
the Armenian General Benevolent Union, and Mr. Levon Sargsian.

His
Holiness Hazim Patriarch of Greek Orthodox Church, Damascus also was present
at the occasion.

Holy Father made a welcome speech
and presented the visiting Patriarch a golden Pastoral Staff (Amsavadi) and
gifts to the delegation.

Then the visiting Patriarch
delivered a speech in Armenian Language and was translated into Arabic.

Then all attend the love feast
hosted by Holy Father.

The Pontiff of
All Armenians will also visit His Beatitude Ignatius IV Hazim, Patriarch of
Antioch and All the East of the Antiochian Orthodox Church; and His
Beatitude Gregorius III Laham, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, of the
Melkite Greek Catholic Church.

The Catholicos
will meet with President Bashar Al-Asad and with the Grand Mufti of the
Syrian Arab Republic, Sheikh Ahmad Badr Al-Din Hassoun. Meetings will also
be held with the Prime Minister, Speaker of the Syrian parliament, as well
as with the Minister of Religious Affairs. His Holiness will visit national
educational institutions and meet with the representatives of the Armenian
community.

A Pontifical
Divine Liturgy will also be celebrated in the Saint Sarkis Mother Cathedral
of Damascus.

It is indeed my great pleasure to
welcome you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, while thanking Him for
this wonderful occasion, when His Holiness KAREKIN II, the Supreme
Patriarch-Catholicos of All Armenians, has pleased to give us a visit and
has thus blessed us all. We heartily thank Your Holiness and all the members
of the delegation, accompanied your Holiness, in this gesture of brotherly
love.

We remember with joy, our visiting
Your Holiness, in Holy Etchmiadzin in 2002, and the warm welcome, rendered
to us by Your Holiness. Thus through these visits, we continue to renew and
improve, the centuries old, dynamic relation, and the mutual love and
respect, between our two sister churches.

When we look back into history,
this relation between the Syrian Orthodox and the Armenian Orthodox
churches, is a deep rooted one, and extending to, more than Thousand and
Seven Hundred years. Right from the beginning, the two churches have been,
like one church, in the one true faith, and were in full intercommunion,
along with the Coptic Orthodox church, and at the same time, by maintaining
the unique cultures of their own. Church history records that, the fathers
of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch, carried the torch of Holy Gospel
to Armenia, and thus the Armenian people, accepted Christianity. And more
than that, the Armenian language, at first adopted the Syriac alphabet, and
in the beginning of the fifth century, the Armenian Scholar : Mesrob, in
co-operation with, the Syrian Orthodox Bishop Daniel, invented the Armenian
Alphabet and translated the Holy Bible and some Syriac Books into Armenian
language.

Also while remembering the past
era of persecutions, both our churches shared the cross of our Lord and
witnessed Him together. In the history written with blood and tears, both
the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Armenian Orthodox Church suffered a lot,
to upkeep our true faith, and thousands and thousands of martyrs sacrificed
their lives on the altar of our Lord. Thus our two churches, not only have
the same faith, but have many things in common. So, Your Holiness, all of us
here, are really honored by the visit of Your Holiness, the head of that
sister church of our own.

I wish your Holiness and the
delegation, a pleasant time in Syria. And I am happy that Your Holiness is
visiting the President of the Syrian Arab Republic: His Excellency Dr.
Bashar al-Assad. You are all aware that, we, here, in this esteemed country
of Syria, enjoy our freedom to practice our religion as Christians and to
build churches and monasteries. We also enjoy all rights and
responsibilities as citizens of this noble country. Here, we all live in
full cooperation with other Christian Churches in this country and have good
relations with our Muslim brothers too. We are grateful to His Excellency
the President, for his wise and able leadership and we pray God Almighty to
grant him good health and long life. We are glad that, Your Holiness has now
come to visit us in this esteemed country of Syria, because Your Holiness
can now be a witness to all that you see here.

Your Holiness, I am also delighted
to congratulate Your Holiness for the brilliant leadership to the Armenian
Church, leading to its steady progress and welfare, ever since Your Holiness
has been chosen by God as its head. We wish Your Holiness good health and
long life and pray for the continued progress and welfare of our sister
Church - the Armenian Church. I may also use this opportunity, to pay my
tributes and salutation, to all the blessed leaders, clergy and the faithful
of the Holy Armenian Church, for upholding the true orthodox faith of the
church.

We sincerely thank your Holiness
and the delegation, for paying us this visit, and thus, making this day, a
day of heavenly joy. This visit is a remarkable event in the history of our
churches. Also we thank all those who have arrived here so as to make this
an auspicious occasion. Let us follow the foot steps of our Forefathers and
upkeep the true faith and the ancient traditions. Let us pray the Almighty
to strengthen us, to together witness Him in this modern age.

As a token of my love, and
thankfulness, for your visit, we may present to Your Holiness, a pastoral
staff, used by the bishops of both our churches. Also some small gifts to
the bishops and mementoes to the gentlemen accompanied Your Holiness. Thank
you all.